AFMBE is indeed a zombie game. It is under the Unisystem. The people of Buff/ Angel and CJ Carella's witchcraft. The system allows you to play. a wide variety of characters at differant power levels. The main book also gives many differant takes on zombie universes from various fictions. Great book to look into.

gdmcbride

10-30-2008, 10:29 PM

More accurately, All Flesh Must be Eaten is the RPG of survival horror (of which zombie movies are perhaps the most popular sub-genre).

The revised rulebook was published in 2003 and uses its own system (a variant of Unisystem if you know what that is). The revised addition adds d20 conversion notes.

There have been a bunch of supplements covering zombies in various genres (Enter the Zombie -- kung-fu, All Tomorrows Zombies -- sci-fi, Dungeons and Zombies -- fantasy, Fist Full o' Zombies -- westerns).

A great game. You can read more about it here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Flesh_Must_Be_Eaten)

Gary

Webhead

10-30-2008, 11:09 PM

AFMBE is a game that uses "classic" or "full" Unisystem as its game engine. Because it uses the same core system, it is completely compatible with Eden Studios other Unisystem RPGs including Armageddon, Terra Primate, Witchcraft and Conspiracy X. All Flesh Must Be Eaten was one of their first, and still the most popular, Unisystem RPG.

The Buffy, Angel and Army of Darkness RPGs that Eden Studios published also use Unisystem, but use a slight variation on the engine referred to as "cinematic" Unisystem which is slightly streamlined and optimized for the over-the-top action and drama you see in those shows/films.

That said, AFMBE at its core is a game about "zombies". What it does is give you options for creating characters from normal average joes to butt-kicking warriors and gives the GM options for creating undead nasties to throw at them. AFMBE gives you all the ideas and rules, but it doesn't decide anything for you. It leaves the specifics of the game up to the GM. You are given the "zombie creation" options and you get to pick and choose how to build your zombies. The GM can give them special powers, make them slow and clumsy or with a cheetah's speed and reflexes. They can spit acid or explode in a poisonous cloud when killed, they can be incredibly tough to kill or they can be defeated by a stiff breeze. Whatever the GM wants for their game.

The game also doesn't dictate how the zombie apocalypse happens or even what the result is. The game gives several very detailed example scenarios to help give GMs ideas, but it leaves the ultimate decision up to the players and GM. Everything from worldwide viral infections to classic "rise from the grave" scenarios to Nazi super-science experiments. Anything and everything is possible.

The game system is very simple and easy to use. It is called "Unisystem" because the system revolves primarily around one very simple rule. When making any kind of check or test, roll a d10 and add any bonuses. If the total is 9 or higher, you succeed. That's it. Obviously, things can get more complicated from there. If a task is particularly difficult, the GM might apply a penalty to the roll. Even so, if the total is 9 or higher...success. Rolling significantly above 9 will yield additional benefits for characters as well though. In this regard, think of "successes" in the World of Darkness RPG. Every few points above 9 is an additional "success" which makes the action better, faster, fancier, etc.

Best of all, the more you cross-polinate the Unisystem games, the more you open up interesting potentials. Because they all work together, you can import "special powers" from Armageddon to give your PCs (or the zombies) even more freakish abilities. Throw in "magic" rules from Witchcraft and you can have spell-slinging undead. But perhaps best of all, there is a ton of support for AFMBE and bunches of supplements released for it. There are sourcebooks to run "Sword and Sorcery" zombies, zombie "Westerns", "Kung Fu" zombies, zombie "Gangbusters", "Sci-Fi" zombies and more.

I highly recommend the Unisystem in general and AFMBE in particular. Check out Eden Studios website for more info: http://www.edenstudios.net/

fmitchell

10-31-2008, 12:28 AM

All Flesh Must Be Eaten was their first, and still most popular, Unisystem RPG.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJ_Carella%27s_WitchCraft, WitchCraft was first and AFMBE was second. Admittedly, both came out in 1999. However, reading through both, AFMBE looks more like a derivative, e.g. the Inspired's miracles are trimmed down from one type of magic in WitchCraft, and Essence sees more use in WitchCraft than in AFMBE.

MuslixtheMighty

10-31-2008, 08:51 AM

There is a AFMBE zombie wrestling suppliment that my GM got and he wanted to run a one shot Royal Rumble to see if anyone could survive.

I was going to play as the super intelligent silver back Gorilla ........... that wrestles.

Webhead

10-31-2008, 09:43 AM

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJ_Carella%27s_WitchCraft, WitchCraft was first and AFMBE was second. Admittedly, both came out in 1999. However, reading through both, AFMBE looks more like a derivative, e.g. the Inspired's miracles are trimmed down from one type of magic in WitchCraft, and Essence sees more use in WitchCraft than in AFMBE.

You're correct. I had a lapse in memory. Witchcraft was indeed the first Unisystem game published. I meant to say simply that AFMBE remains Eden Studios' best selling and most supported game line. My original post will be corrected.

Thanks. :)

TAROT

10-31-2008, 01:32 PM

I highly recommend the Unisystem in general and AFMBE in particular. Check out Eden Studios website for more info: http://www.edenstudios.net/

Also, the Witchcraft game is available as a free download http://www.edenstudios.net/witchcraft/index.html

The major difference between the two is that AFMBE characters are generally normal people, while Witchcraft characters are psychics and mages (i.e. more character points), so Witchcraft has many different types of magic available, while AFMBE has Deadworlds (campaign premises) and the Zombie creation rules which are pretty robust and with a little effort can be used to make shambling brain-eaters, speedy little zombies hopped up on Twinkies and after your pancreas, facehugger aliens, daleks, mummies, trolls or harpies.

Webhead

10-31-2008, 01:42 PM

A great resource for those curious about AFMBE and Unisystem in general should really check out Kurt Wiegel and his "Game Geeks" series of RPG reviews on Youtube: